Men's Swimming and Diving Slips Past Vassar

Poughkeepsie, NY (1/27/09) – Senior John Adams (Wharton, NJ / Pope John XXIII)
won two individual events and then swam the third leg of the winning
400 freestyle relay team as the Montclair State men’s swimming and
diving team used the victory in that final event to slip past Vassar
College, 122-118 at the Kresge Pool on Tuesday evening.

The
victory was huge for the Red Hawks, who improved to 4-6 on the year.
Injuries had left Montclair with just 10 available swimmers for the
meet and 12 total competitors (two divers).

Despite
being undermanned, quickly gained ground on the scoreboard after
dropping the 400 medley realy with a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000
freestyle. Derek Henrichsen (West Allenhurst, NJ / Ocean Township) led the finish as he posted a time of 11:05.70. Dan Gordon ( Northfield, NJ / Mainland Regional) was second and Brian Iacono (Cape May Courthouse, NJ / Middle Township) third with times of 11:08.01 and 11:08.54, respectively.

Adams earned his first win of the evening in the 200 freestyle as he
clocked in with a season-best 1:52.11 in the event. Vassar would win
the next four events, but again the Red Hawks came through with another
sweep, this time in the 100 freestyle. Blaise Lacca ( Sewell, NJ / Washington Township) won the event with a time of 50.59 followed by Matt Hyde ( Clifton, NJ / Clifton) who swam 51.47. Sean French ( Cranford, NJ / Cranford) completed the sweep as he registered a time of 51.61.

Victories
by Adams in the 200 backstroke (2:05.71) and Henrichsen in the 500
freestyle (5:10.40) helped Montclair increase its lead to 102-84 but
Vassar came back again as the Brewers won the second section of
one-meter diving and then swept the 200 backstroke to take a 112-111
advantage heading into the final event.

In
the 400 freestyle relay, Hyde, French, Adams and Lacca recorded a time
of 3:22.88 to capture the event and 11 points for first place as MSU
took the meet by the four-point margin.

Montclair State returns to action on Thursday, January 29 as both the
men’s and women’s teams head to Mahwah, NJ for a tri-meet with Ramapo
and King’s College at 6:00 pm.